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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider ADI serves as a catalyst for Aboitiz Group's Great Transformation

ADI serves as a catalyst for Aboitiz Group's Great Transformation

Published Oct 25, 2022 10:19 am

The Aboitiz Group created Aboitiz Data Innovation (ADI) as one of the conglomerate’s key vehicles to drive its transformation journey to become the Philippines’ first “Techglomerate.” As the Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (DSAI) arm of the Group, ADI transforms data into business, environmental, social, and governance outcomes. ADI leverages data to make better decisions, reinvest business models, and develop high-value solutions to create new processes, products and services.

SOLUTIONS FOR IMPACT Aboitiz Data Innovation works with Aboitiz Group business units to leverage DSAI for transformative change. It aims to scale its solutions across more industries to further advance business and communities.

ADI Chief Executive Officer Dr. David R. Hardoon explained that ADI consolidates DSAI operating models and promotes a data-driven culture across the Group, which has wide interest in various major industries such as financial services, power, infrastructure, construction, land, and food.

“By operationalizing DSAI across the Aboitiz Group’s business units, ADI is advancing an over-a-century-old company’s Great Transformation journey into becoming the Philippines’ first techglomerate,” said Dr. Hardoon.

For instance, working with Aboitiz-led UnionBank of the Philippines (UnionBank), ADI developed and helped deploy an enhanced, AI-powered alternative credit scoring solution to help increase financial inclusion and sustainability nationwide, especially for the country’s 34.3 million unbanked adult population. With this, UnionBank and its fintech arm UBX can now offer loans to a broader range of individuals and small businesses who may have not qualified under traditional scoring methods.

Dr. Hardoon said that this initiative effectively doubled the bank’s loan approval rate, continuing to help connect the unbanked and underbanked to accessible financial services.

On power, ADI is working with Aboitiz Power Corporation (AboitizPower) to operationalize DSAI in power generation, distribution, grid, and markets.

ADI Chief Operating Officer for Power Luis F. Gonzalez said, “The measure of our success is to build capabilities enabled by Data Science and AI that help best orchestrate the growing complexities of the power Industry - where power plants become more reliable, markets become less volatile and renewable energy becomes more economically feasible. The outcome should be a more efficient, less expensive, and more sustainable energy that is available for all Filipinos.”

In line with AboitizPower’s 2030 goal for a 50:50 balance between thermal and renewable energy generation, ADI’s role is to empower a sustainable transition into the future of generation through DSAI.

It is also helping AboitizPower Transmission & Distribution Utilities transform the power grid by looking to DSAI to improve safety and resiliency, reduce operational cost and increase customer satisfaction.

ADI is continuously looking for avenues to innovate and reshape the way they do business and deliver power in the best and most cost effective way as geopolitical, socioeconomic, and technological factors continuously shape power markets.

In the area of manufacturing, ADI supported Republic Cement in realizing operational and environmental results through the application of DSAI solutions in measuring the compressive strength of cement. ADI developed the 28-day Cement Compressive Strength AI Tool, enabling data transformation, analysis and instantaneous compressive strength prediction using a model.

THE POWER OF TRANSFORMATIVE CHANGE Team members of Visayan Electric, an AboitizPower Distribution Utility, in their Control Center. ADI is working with AboitizPower to operationalize Data Science and AI in power generation, distribution, grid, and markets.

Republic Cement was able to optimize cement production leading to better-managed resources, improved efficiency of raw materials usage, and most importantly carbon emissions reduction in its cement manufacturing process by approximately 35,000 tCO2e annually, while maintaining consistent product quality.

Dr. Hardoon said there are still lots of opportunities for ADI as its team of data scientists continue to find ways to innovate across different industries and functional areas.

He vowed that ADI would foster knowledge and experience sharing not just with the Aboitiz business units but also with other organizations including the academe and government. ADI aims to scale their solutions to other industries such as travel and tourism, logistics, and smart cities, among others.

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